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THE UNIFORM TYPE QUESTION 



AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

REPORT OF THE UNIFORM TYPE COMMITTEE 

OF JUNE, 1913 



By WILLIAM B. WAIT 



1915 



THE UNIFORM TYPE QUESTION 



AN EXAMINATION OF THE 

REPORT OF THE UNIFORM TYPE COMMITTEE 

OF JUNE, 1913 



By WILLIAM B. WAIT 



1915 



**& 



THE BRADSTREET PRESS, 
1+3 LAFAYETTE ST., N. Y 



AN EXAMINATION OF THE REPORT OF THE 

UNIFORM TYPE COMMITTEE 

OF JUNE, 1913. 

By William B. Wait. 

The first book with raised letters for reading- by touch was 
published in France in 1784 by Valentin Hauy. The type was 
modeled after the forms of the Roman lower case — no capitals 
being used. 

About 1820 Charles Barbier devised a system of writing and 
printing by raised points for the purpose of reading by touch. 

Thus it will be seen that at an early stage two varieties of 
type designed for touch reading were introduced after much 
study and experiment by two highly intelligent men — both of 
whom could see. 

From time to time other schemes of tactile type have been 
suggested, but in the end the types based on the forms of the 
Roman letters and those formed of raised points are the only 
ones that have persisted and survived. 

The principal type schemes under these two heads are these : 

France, lower case Roman, nonrecurrent, no capitals, 1784, 
by Valentin Hauy; Edinburgh, lower case Roman, nonrecur- 
rent, no capitals, 1831, by James Gall; Glasgow, upper case 
Roman, nonrecurrent, no capitals, 1834, by Edmund Fry and 
Rev. John Alston (blind) ; France, vertical, six level point, 
phonetic, nonrecurrent, no capitals, 1820, by Charles Barbier; 
France, vertical, trilevel point, nonrecurrent, no capitals, 
irregular intervals, 1829, by Louis Braille (blind); England, 
modified Roman, nonrecurrent, no capitals, 1825, by William 
Moon (blind) ; Boston, lower case Roman, nonrecurrent, no 
capitals, 1832, by Samuel G. Howe; New York City, bilevel, 
recurrent, capitals and lower case, six bases, regular intervals, 



4 

1 866, by William B. Wait; English Braille, the original tri- 
level, nonrecurrent alphabet of Louis Braille, appropriated 
bodily by the British and Foreign Blind Association, supple- 
mented by a large list of abbreviations, and now called British 
Braille, 1870; United States, American Braille, trilevel point, 
lower case, recurrent, no capitals, irregular intervals, 1884, by 
John Smith (blind), Edward E. Allen, John T. Sibley and 
J. H. Johnson; England, London Point System, trilevel, recur- 
rent, regular intervals, four bases, capitals, if any, from New 
York Point, 1894, by Rev. J. Knowles. 

Here let it be noted that while all the type suggested by 
blind men followed Roman forms, the inventor of point 
type having no relation to Roman forms, was a seeing man, 
Charles Barbier. 

These references are very instructive; for instance, they 
show the mental attitude of highly intelligent men — both 
seeing and blind. It appears also that all progressive ideas 
and designs have been the result of individual interest and 
initiative. 

In considering the question of the wisdom of adopting, or 
even of commending and patronizing at this time, any other 
system that is of the same species as any of those before 
named, there are some facts which ought to be in mind, but of 
which the general reader would know nothing unless they are 
pointed out. 

When these systems, except British Braille, American 
Braille and the London Point System, were proposed, the field 
in every country was open and unworked ; they appeared one 
after the other at wide intervals of both time and space; 
funds were wanting ; then, as now, little .was known about the 
subject, the interest in which was very limited and purely 
local ; there was no embossed literature or music and no means 
of tangible writing. 

But however unwarranted and injudicious the introduction 
of the systems now extant may have been, whatever may be 
their defects, intrinsic merits or relative value, the impressive 
fact remains that the entire embossed literature and music of 



5 

the world, comprising the means of education, of religious 
instruction, of intellectual refreshment and comfort of the 
blind everywhere (having taken 134 years of time, the patient, 
intelligent and often gratuitous service of many devoted men 
and women and an outlay of not less than two millions of 
dollars), exist in these systems. 

About 1890 an agitation was begun having for its object the 
adoption of a single type upon the assumption that the existing 
diversity of types should give way to a single uniform type, to 
be chosen by a select committee of blind people; and accord- 
ingly, in 1905, at the Saginaw meeting of the American Asso- 
ciation of Workers for the Blind, a committee, called the 
Uniform Type Committee, was appointed, whose duty was 
i ' To investigate the various forms of tactile print, and to labor 
for the adoption of some one universal system." 

For several years the committee worked industriously but 
made no progress towards a satisfactory solution of the prob- 
lem, and the Association of Workers then devised a new plan, 
at once simple, unique and which on its face promised a sure 
solution. Briefly stated, the main features of the plan were 
these: 

1. The questions to be settled. 

2. The preparation by this committee of a series of test 
papers embossed in the systems under examination. 

3. The test papers to be read by readers of different 
systems under the sole direction of a member of the 
committee styled the "Agent." 

4. The determining facts developed by these reading 
tests to be the average of the elapsed time and errors 
made by the readers of each system. 

The report of the committee, which shows remarkable astute- 
ness, versatility and ingenuity in the execution of this work, 
was submitted to the Workers at their meeting in Jackson- 
ville, 111., in June, 1913, and was approved and adopted by 
that body. 



The final and essential result is expressed in the following- 
Resolutions which form part of the report and were adopted 
with it: 

"BE IT RESOLVED: That we recommend to the American 
Association of Workers for the Blind: 

i. That the Association adopt, for itself officially and individu- 
ally, and take all measures practicable to secure the adoption 
by publishing houses, educational institutions, libraries, etc., 
for the blind, in this country and abroad, of: 

{a) The British Braille alphabet and the American Braille 
capital prefix, with such modifications, if any, as shall be in 
accordance with the findings of your committee, and that the 
development of the complete system be in harmony with the 
principles of three-level, variable-base and frequency of recur- 
rence, the system to be known as the Standard Dot System. 

(b) That the dimensions of the characters in this system shall 
exceed a minimum of eighty thousandths of an inch from cen- 
ter to center of dots, both vertically and horizontally. 

2. That experiments and tests shall be made in diacritical, musi- 
cal, mathematical and other scientific notations, including 
third and fourth base characters, and in scale of type, and that 
the ultimate results of such investigations shall be incorpo- 
rated as a part of the Standard Dot System, this work to be 
conducted under the direction of the Uniform Type Com- 
mittee." 

Now this procedure is a most serious matter, for it means 
the interference of a self-appointed, unrepresentative, unin- 
corporated, unsupervised body in the affairs of other organi- 
zations and people; means the diversion of funds, facilities, 
experience and the destruction of established interests ; means 
a disregard, and it may be a violation, of the obligations of 
duty and loyal service ; means that while one is serving as an 
officer, a teacher or employee, he will individually carry out 
the purposes of the Workers Association and in doing so will, 
if practicable, use the premises and facilities that are being 
provided by his employer; means that the time and attention 
of pupils will be diverted from use of present methods and 
facilities already provided, and will be given to the propa- 
ganda of a system which, as yet, no one has seen, but to which 
the Workers have, in advance, pledged themselves. 



Inasmuch as this momentous action depends upon the facts 
developed by the reading of the test papers prepared and 
administered by the committee itself, it is important to know 
whether the elapsed time and errors made in reading the test 
papers was affected either favorably or adversely by the con- 
tents, arrangement and administration of the tests made by 
and under the direction of the committee itself, and if so, in 
what way and to what extent ? The answers to this question 
will be found in the analyses of the test papers. 

Before presenting these matters in detail, however, some 
items in the resolutions and certain facts developed in -the 
administration of the tests deserve brief mention : 

The use of the words " Standard Dot " instead of "Uniform 
Type," as the name of the system yet to be, doubtless caused 
great surprise, especially as no reason for the change was given. 

The prior existence of a trilevel system almost identical in its 
essential features with the trilevel system as described in the 
resolutions may account for the action. 

The following is from the title page of a pamphlet that 
appeared in London in 1904: 

"THE 
'LONDON POINT' SYSTEM 

OF 

READING FOR THE BLIND, 

WITH 

METHODS OF ABBREVIATION FOR USE WITH 

THE SYSTEM, 

BEING 

A PROGRESSIVE SCHEME FROM SIMPLE LETTERS 

TO shorthand; DESIGNED FOR THE 

BLIND OF ALL CLASSES. 

BY THE 

REV. J. KNOWLES." 

This is a trilevel system and provides for signs one, 
two, three and four points wide, in other words, for a series 



8 

of base forms extended laterally after the manner of Neiv York 
Point. 

On page 26 of that pamphlet the following paragraph 
appears : 

" In New York Point four-point- wide signs are used for Capital 
Letters, for series of letters which may be independent words or 
may form part of words, such as almost, could, come, ever; and 
for syllables, diphthongs, triphthongs, digraphs, such as ade, ae, 
ance, etc. Now as London Point has two signs (upper and mid- 
dle and middle and lower) for every one of the New York Point 
signs (besides having many more with upper and middle and 
lower dots), the above methods could be carried out to a far 
greater extent if it should be found needful or desirable." 

The author of the London System evidently had a breakdown 
in mind, in which case he points out that recourse can be had 
to the resources of the New York Point system. 

The most significant feature of the renunciation of the name 
Uniform is that it is equivalent to a confession that the blind 
and general public have been entertained long enough by this 
fallacy of uniformity and that a new delusion should be 
announced. 

In the construction of a Point System the first question to 
be settled is the distance by which the points shall be sepa- 
rated — the aim being to bring them as close together as possi- 
ble without confusion or ambiguity, and also with due regard to 
the mechanical considerations involved in the structure of appa- 
ratus for embossing the points on sheets of paper and of metal. 

Having amply demonstrated that the points may be closer 
in a bilevel than in a trilevel structure and also when the 
finger is in motion than when it merely rests upon the points, 
I fixed the scale for my paper writing machine, the kleido- 
graph, at 0.077, and at the same time the pitch for the stereo- 
graph, a machine for embossing metal plates, was fixed at 
0.080. This was in 1892, and these dimensions have never 
been changed. These dimensions are neither inherent in nor 
practically applicable to any trilevel system. 

Well knowing this fact, the committee adopted as its rule 
of practice the fallacious, misleading theory that the systems 



9 

compared must be printed on the same scale. The reader 
should note the fact, however, that the adherents of this 
dogma most sincerely believe that the term same scale always 
means the Braille scale or one that will fit its trilevel Standard 
Dot scheme, but never means the New York Point scale 0.080. 
Those whose views are not clouded by a mistaken assumption 
of exclusive Tightness and fitness to determine questions of 
this sort will reject this specious theory together with its 
unprofessional and discreditable practice. 

At the beginning of the test readings at the New York School 
an episode occurred having an important bearing on this matter 
but to which no reference is made in the report. 

As the reading began I observed that the points of this 
embossed paper were further apart than in the standard New 
York Point. On calling attention to the matter, the agent 
admitted that such was the case, and in reply to questions, 
stated that the enlargement of the scale had been suggested 
by a member at a meeting of the subcommittee several months 
earlier, the alleged purpose being to make the reading of the 
New York Point test papers easier for adults ; that no requests 
for the change had been received; that she knew that the 
Bible, Sunday School Weekly, Publications of the Xavier 
Society, the Ziegler Magazine, Publications of the American 
Printing House for the Blind and many other publications 
printed in standard New York Point scale of 0.080, have for 
many years been read by thousands of adults throughout the 
country ; that after due consideration the suggestion to enlarge 
the scale was adopted and that all of the test papers in New 
York Point had been printed in this enlarged scale at The 
Perkins Institution from plates embossed upon a machine 
specially built for the purpose in Boston under the direction 
of the committee. 

With the consent of the Agent, I then caused this paper — 
which was the First Story — to be embossed on the stereograph 
in normal New York Point, and a careful measurement showed 
that the aggregate expansion of the letters and of the letter, 
word and line space caused by this covert and unannounced 



10 

enlargement of the New York scale resulted in an increase of 
.39% in space over the normal area, and extended the aggre- 
gate length of the lines and finger travel 16%. But the time 
lost from these causes was not the only handicap, for the 
expanded space between points was unfamiliar, producing 
perplexity and an increase of elapsed time and errors. 

The Committee was furnished with an impression from the 
stereograph plate, together with a typewritten copy of the 
story, and a protest against the use of test papers in the false 
scale was also filed with the Committee. 

During the readings at the New York School the only 
lists produced, mentioned or used by the agent were in the 
expanded scale. 

Now, if the examining Agent had been provided with 
" special sheets " printed in normal New York scale of 0.080 
before starting out, why were they not submitted for reading 
.at the New York school ? 

It also appears that the letter groups, lists of words and the 
story, called " special sheets," are the same in contents as the 
lists and the story that had already been prepared for other 
purposes. 

The obvious intent and effect was to handicap the New York 
readers with the American Braille scale under a New York 
Point mask, and thereby automatically increase their elapsed 
reading time and errors at least 25 per cent, on account of 
increased finger travel and other resulting hindrances. 

The circumstances tend to show an expectation that the 
enlargement of the New York scale would pass unnoticed. 
When, however, it was discovered, the Committee felt obliged 
to justify its action by adducing proof showing that the 
wrongful scale is more legible than the normal New York 
scale, and for this purpose instituted a comparison between 
lists printed in the enlarged scale and in the normal New York 
scale of 0.080, calling these " special sheets." 

On page 14 the report gives the results of these tests, of 
which there are three: One consisting of groups of letters, 



II 

another two lists of words, the third being the First Story. 
The letter groups used were list No. 342 in the enlarged, or 
Braille, scale, and list No. 344 in the New York scale. 

According to the rules governing such tests, they should be 
in all respects on perfectly equal terms. 

An examination of list No. 342 in enlarged, or Braille, scale 
and of list No. 344 in normal 0.080 New York scale, called 
" special sheets" by the Committee, shows that each list has 
42 letter groups, comprising 168 letters each, and these super- 
ficial appearances indicate that the lists are on equal terms. 
Scanning them separately, however, it will be seen that in the 
enlarged type only 9 letters are used — 17 being omitted, includ- 
ing all the most difficult letters. The 9 letters used are of 
high recurrence and have few points, reducing both time and 
errors in Braille and in the false large scale 0.090 as against 
the true New York scale 0.080. 

In list No. 344, New York true scale, 15 letters are used, 
which are 6, or 66%, more than in the list of enlarged type. 

Comparing the lists with reference to the base forms of the 
letters, we find: 

Large type, first base letters 34 Finger travel 68 points 

" " second base letters. .. . 134 " " 402 " 

" " third base letters o " " o 

16S 470 

Normal scale, first base letters 16 Finger travel 32 points 

" " second base letters . . 57 " " 171 " 

" " third base letters 95 " " 380 " 

168 583 

Thus the expert jugglery practiced in the preparation of 
these papers makes the finger travel of the small scale 24% 
greater than the finger travel of the large scale, whereas, if 
the distribution of first, second and third base letters were 
the same in the large as in the normal type, the finger run of 
the large type would be 12^% more than that of the normal 
scale, making a. total difference of 36^% between the results 
in the report and the real fact. 



12 

On page 13 of its Report the Committee says: 

" In order to test the relative legibility of types different in size 
or scale, special sheets in New York Point and American Braille 
were prepared. The uniform scale of type used in your commit- 
tee's experiment sheets is approximately .090 of an inch from 
center to center of dots, both vertically and horizontally, while 
the scale of special sheets used in this experiment is .080. This 
latter is a scale generally used in New York Point books. These 
special sheets were printed at the Xavier Publishing House for 
the Blind, New York City. Your committee regrets that there 
were so few readers of these sheets, but the preparation of the 
plates in this case was so delayed by circumstances over which 
the committee had no control as to make it impossible to secure a 
larger number." 

On page 14, the Committee then explains the results of this 
test on which it relies to justify its enlargement of the New 
York scale: 

"Table showing a comparison between the reading of sheets 
printed in the large scale (. 090 of an inch) used by the com- 
mittee throughout the other tests, and the reading of the same 
lists printed in a smaller scale (.080 of an inch) : 

NEW YORK POINT 

19 Readers 

Per cent. Per cent. 
List Letters Time Errors 

34i ) 

342 V Large Type 100 100 

344) Small Type 107.6 113 

7 Readers 
Words 

73 1 Large Type 100 100 

Small Type , in 90 

15 Readers 
Story 

141 Large Type 100 100 

Small Type 104.3 *34 " 

The lists No. 342 and No. 344, printed in true New York 

scale for comparison with the same lists in the enlarged scale, 

were read by adults in other tests in which the shortest 

recorded reading time in each is as follows : 

No. 342 79-96 seconds 

No. 344 101.3 " 

By referring to the table quoted above it appears that for 
the letter tests list No. 342 was used in the large 0.090 scale, 



13 

while the entirely different, larger and more difficult list No. 
344 was used for the 0.080 or true New York scale. 

It is worth while to give here lists No. 342 and No. 344 
with their analyses : 

List No. 342, False Scale 0.090: 

eais omd rlae isomd soim arle mios lrd elra 

dmosi eral esrl siae- drlo demid rem lrse slir 

iasa adolm oloda sai rils dmo omer imed 

damo laso oremi dis drie slrl medao mao 

msal loms amsid iord Iris adm erida iro 

List No. 344, True Scale 0.080: 

xpp jjlax seif fbdo mrcc babd oflj fmri jce 

pcsp bxxjo mfra fdips cjl bxpx ebca ibcf drpe 

xsfp cmx jobl jbda cife srxpf pjmc loxbj ifsx 

jjm clcp efbd axrp boic oblf pcsr pxxej afj 

dbmo libc fps prcxx bjaf edmj 

NEW YORK POINT. List List 

No. 342 No. 344 

No. of Letters 168 168 

' ' Points _ 395 519 

' Letters omitted r 17 11 

" used 9 15 

' 1st Base Letters 34 16 

' 2nd " " 134 57 

" 3rd " " o 95 

Finger Travel, 1st Base 68 32 

" 2nd " 402 171 

" " 3rd " o 380 

Total Finger Travel 470 583 

Excess o 113 

Excess of finger travel in No. 344 over No. 342 23 % 

Excess work and elapsed time in No. 344 over No. 342 
from other causes 31% 

Total excess in elapsed time 54% 

The foregoing analyses of lists No. 342 and No. 344 dis- 
close the reasons why ''the time required and errors made in 
reading the small type greatly exceeded the time and errors 
with the large type." 

The Committee made both of these lists and had exact 
knowledge as to the points of difference. If the intention 



had been to make a fair comparison the same list would have 
been used for both scales, 0.080 and 0.090. 

The next test of the true 0.080 and the false 0.090 scales 
was with a list of 80 words, which appears in two forms : 

Test No. 731 — in which all the words are uncapitalized. 

Test No. 732 — in which f£, or 50, of the words are capitalized.. 

Test No. 732. 

apple Violet Tucker Pearl hope Job Opal quit 
Frank save Hill upon Lily May fear Hunt Black 
Dresser care Quail Ash jar Fisher move Joy reach 
Trader vale Brown Day box Grace door Zeal tide 
Keen March Queen main Smith ride Usher tell 
Ward Young- busy Ulster dust Rose yet want Kitty 
up Wait Snow Ruby pair North Long open Vine 
nail Ivy Elk good Castor envy Eagle Green Iron 
loan Pansy Carry hear Yellow Album Olive you 
Judge New 

For the 0.090 large letter sheet, the uncapitalized list of 80 
words No. 731, was chosen, but the table does not indicate by 
any identity number what form of the 80 word list was used 
for the small type, 0.080 scale, and this presents the matter in 
a very interesting phase. 

By reference to page 11 of the Report it will be seen that in 
New York Point the Committee employed the legitimate 4th 
base capitals and three anomalous, unliterary means of what 
is incorrectly called capitalization, namely, tt, th and x placed 
before the initial small letter. 

The Report nowhere used or referred to an uncapitalized 
list or sheet of 80 words printed in the small type scale 0.080, 
and it is therefore clear that the small type used in this test 
was one of these four capitalized forms referred to. 

Of the 80 words used, fifty were capitalized; so that no 
matter which of the four forms of capitals was used, the 
elapsed time for reading the capitalized list was increased by 
reason of more work and finger travel. 



i5 

For the last of these tests the story, No. 141, was used, and 
on page 20 of the Report it is stated that this story was printed 
in New York Point both with and without capitals. 

In this test, as before, there existed the same strong motive 
for putting the 0.080 scale in second place, and accordingly the 
uncapitalized list was used for the large type 0.090 scale, and 
a capitalized 'list for the small type 0.080. 

The Report does not show which of the four forms of capi- 
talization was used, but in any case, there was an excess of 
work and of finger travel over the uncapitalized list. 

On page 20 the Report says : 

" In tabulating the results for these readings, we have divided the 
readers into four classes : 

Class 1, adults who learned to read when young, including the older 

pupils in the schools down to the eighth grade. 
Class 2, adults who learned after fourteen years of age. 
Class 3, school pupils in the seventh grade and below, exclusive of 

those who had learned recently. 
Class 4, school pupils in the seventh grade and below, who were slow 

for special reasons, having learned recently." 

Now it appears that only fifteen readers participated in this 
story reading test, and the choice of the number and group of 
the readers for the large type and small type sheets was 
entirely within the control of the committee. 

There is nothing to show that the uncapitalized sheet in the 
large type was not read by the best class of readers, and that 
the small type capitalized list was read by slower readers from 
third grade. 

Anything more ingeniously contrived to force the New York 
readers and system into second place without disclosing the 
disingenuous and tricky means by which it was accomplished, 
is impossible to conceive. 

However, when the real character of these tests is exposed it 
is evident that they utterly fail to furnish the Committee with 
any justification for its unwarranted substitution of the false 
exaggerated scale 0.090 in place of the true New York 
scale 0.080. 



i6 

A peculiar experience during one of the official readings at 
the New York school may be mentioned here, as no notice of it 
appears in the Report. 

Occurring as it did in the execution of a plan most carefully 
prepared, and having an adverse effect on the New York 
readers only, it has marked significance. 

While the reading of a list of eighty words was proceeding, 
a youthful reader, who had been getting on well, suddenly 
halted, then made an unsuccessful attempt to pronounce a 
word, became perplexed, made another unsuccessful attempt 
at pronunciation and then gave up the effort. 

The next reader halted at the same place, became confused, 
tried without success to pronounce the word, lost time and 
then proceeded. 

On one of the readings the watcher found an opportunity to 
look at the page, and it was seen that an unpronounceable 
group of letters had been inserted in place of a word, thus 
making a baffle which halted the reader and unavoidably 
increased both elapsed time and errors. 

It should be noted that the direct loss made by the baffle 
was only a small part of the whole loss, for the reason that the 
readers were perplexed, made nervous and overcautious for 
fear of meeting other similar snags. 

The Agent, of course, withdrew this list, at the same time 
saying to me that the Committee had been pressed for time 
and that faulty proof reading was doubtless the cause of the 
defective sheet. 

It is fortunate that this baffle was detected, as otherwise 
this defective sheet would have been used throughout all sub- 
sequent readings. Whether the condition of this sheet was 
accidental is a question about which there may be more than 
one opinion. 

An astonishing provision of the resolutions is the one 
adopting the British Braille alphabet, which involves the 
practical abandonment of the principle of recurrence and the 
almost total loss of its advantages. 



i7 

The proviso that the development of the Standard Dot 
System shall employ the British Braille alphabet, in which, 
recurrence practice is impossible, and at the same time be in 
harmony with the principle of recurrence, is absurd, and 
appears to have been inserted for no other purpose than to 
save the face of the Committee and create the impression that 
the Standard Dot System will exemplify the principle of 
recurrence to the utmost limit of its availability. 

Although the test lists prepared by the Committee were 
designed to demonstrate certain designated subjects as cap- 
itals, level letters, contractions, etc., the report furnishes 
scarcely any information on these subjects, and these topical 
notes are introduced here to make more clear the effect of the 
elements contained in each of the lists analyzed. 

CAPITALS. 

A capital letter is one that is "larger and of different form 
than others of the same font;" and in New York Point the 
capitals conform to this definition, while their use is similar to 
that of visual literature. The basis of a capital is the same 
small letter from which, by the addition of certain points, a 
larger and different form is produced. 

In any Braille system the formation of a series of letters of 
larger size and different form is impossible, so that no Braille 
system has, or can have, a set of capital letters. Real capital- 
ization being impossible, the Braillists, in recent years, have 
adopted the practice of placing a " capital sign " before words 
that should begin with a capital letter. In American Braille 
the period sign ## serves also as the capital sign. An illus- 
tration in visual type will give the reader a clear idea of 
Braille practice: 

.j. de .la .fontaine and .a. de .la .fosse 
were noted . f rench writers. 

In order that the reader may be better able to properly value 
the amount of touch development, of mental discipline and 
familiarity with correct literary practice, two things should be 



noted, namely: that in the Braille systems the pupil has to 
learn only one simple sign and only one set of letters ; while in 
New York Point the pupil learns 26 small letters and 26 capital 
letters, making 52, with which he becomes both mentally and 
tangibly familiar, against 27 signs acquired by the Braille 
pupils. 

In Braille the reader meets only small letters, while in 
New York Point the reader meets two kinds of letters, and 
at each capitalization must choose one out of the 26 possible 
differentiations. 

For the purpose of exploiting this subject, the Committee 
prepared a list of 80 words printed in each system in two 
forms, one uncapitalized, and the other having 50, or ^, of 
the words capitalized. This capitalized list was read by 430 
readers, 84 in British Braille, 169 in American Braille and 177 
in New York Point. 

These alleged New York lists with the tt, tJi and x capital 
signs demand notice. For a short time the th appeared as a 
-capital sign and was then discontinued ; the letter jasa capi- 
tal sign has appeared in a small number of books, and I know 
•of no publication in which tt has been used as a capital sign. 

Where and by whom these three anomalous test capital sign 
papers were read, the report does not show. 

At the New York Institute the committee observed the 
reading of German text, every noun having a fourth base 
capital, but the report makes no mention of it. 

LEVEL TEST. 

It should be noted that letters may be ambiguous when used 
as initials after a blank space, while in the body of the text, 
where the position can be determined by the preceding letter 
or word, there will be no ambiguity. 

Every word in each of the two New York lists begins with 
•one of the six letters a, e, f, t, n and u, thus increasing the 
possibility of ambiguity for the New York readers to the 
utmost limit; while in the two Braille lists neither of the 
ambiguous letters a and e are used as initial letters except in 



19 

two words, thus almost wholly relieving the Braille readers 
from hindrance on this account. 

In ordinary English these six level letters are about 34% 
•of all letters used. The Report states that the readings indi- 
cate that these level letters a, e, f, t, n and u ' ' are but little, if 
any, hindrance in reading New York Point." 

ONE SIDE LETTERS. 

In each Braille system five letters are formed on one side of 
the type, thus, American Braille a e» 1« s t» These let- 
ters have few dots but are perplexing, because a and e are 
equivocal while s is an open letter. 

In making up the test lists great care has been taken to 
relieve the Braille readers of these inherent obstacles by 
reducing the number of these letters and by the position 
assigned to them. 

OPEN LETTERS. 

In Braille an open letter is one having one or two points 

at both upper and lower levels, and no point at the middle 

level. The absence of this middle point breaks the letter 

into an upper and lower part, either one or both of which may 

be missed by the finger. 

The open letters are, m n p s and u and com- 

• • • L • • •• 

prise about 29% of the total normal usage of letters. 

As there are no open letters in New York Point, it follows 
that there is no hindrance from this cause as in Braille, and 
hence the use of a less number of either of these letters than 
normal in a story or list of test words, gives to Braille readers 
an advantage not shared by New York Point readers. 

The peculiar treatment of this group of letters invites 
attention. 

The open letter m in the first story is 50% less and in the 
second story 39% more than normal. The open letter n in 
the first story is 11% more and in the second story 35% more. 
The aggregate shortage of these difficult open letters, tn, n, p, 



20 

s and u in American Braille is 26.60%, by which amount 
Braille readers were assisted, the net results being an equiv- 
alent disadvantage to New York Point readers. 

The two point first base letter z, one of the three 
smallest and easiest letters in New York Point, is short in 
the two stories 36%, which was a serious disadvantage to 
the readers. 

In American Braille a and e have only one point each, and 
are the easiest of all letters to read. The total normal number 
of these letters for the two stories is 240, while the actual 
number is 285, an excess of 45 letters, or 18.75%. 

These letters in American Braille have one point each, thus 
giving 45 added points in the Braille stories for the surplus 
45 letters. 

In New York Point these letters have, respectively, two 
points and one point, making three, so that the excess of these 
45 letters requires 135 points, which is 90 points, or ioo%, 
more than in Braille. This is a handicap deliberately imposed 
upon the New York Point readers, by this departure from 
normal recurrence and fair practice. 

As the number of times each letter appears is the same in 
both systems, it would seem that the advantages and disad- 
vantages would be the same ; but this appearance is deceptive, 
and it is evident that the procedure was deliberately designed 
to favor American Braille. 

CONTRACTIONS. 

All the useful facts about contractions were known many 
years ago, and there was no proper need to spend any time on 
the subject; however, the Committee had need for contractions, 
and on page 13 says: 

" There appears to have been little or no question as to the wisdom of 
using contractions in the New York Point system, and all the signs of 
that system were therefore used in making one experiment, the result of 
which shows a much greater saving in time through the use of contractions. 
This is doubtless, in some measure, due to the uniform practice of using 
contractions in New York Point printing and the consequent unfamiliarity 
of the readers with full spelling." 



21 

Here we are indebted to the Committee for an important 
discovery which, in logical terms, may be stated thus : 

A knowledge of contractions makes poor spellers. 

Mary knows the sign for the word that; hence Mary 
doesn't know how to spell that. 

Conversely: Ignorance of contractions makes one a good 
speller. 

John knows nothing about contractions; hence John is a 
good speller. 

In the first story there are 165 words, 109 of which permit 
contractions. This is an unnatural, highly technical com- 
position, specially adapted to American Braille, but which w T as 
used for New York Point both capitalized and uncapitalized, 
and with full spelling. 

For many years past the records of the Regents examinations 
show that the pupils at the New York School who have made 
constant use of contractions have attained a higher standard in 
spelling than pupils in the visual schools of the State. 

According to the Committee, a still better record can be made 
by giving up contractions. 

It is only just to say that the statement of the Committee is 
unwarranted and an unkind reflection upon the scholarship of 
blind people who read the New York system. 

The only sheet of the first story in American Braille was zvith 
contractions, and hence any reading of the story in American 
Braille was in tins contracted form. 

The best average time was made by the first group, 94.7 
seconds. 

In New York Point this story was printed without con- 
tractions and with and without capitals. The best average 
time was made by the first group, 115.8 seconds. Total letters 
in first story, 655; American Braille contractions, 140; reduc- 
tions by contractions, 184; letters and contractions used in this 
story, 47 1 ; number of letters used in writing story in New 
York Point, 655. The average elapsed time made by the first 



22 

group of readers on the first story in contracted American 
Braille was 94.7 seconds. 

A simple calculation shows that at the same rate the story in 
American Braille with full spelling would have taken 131.65 
seconds, as against 115. 8 seconds, the average elapsed time 
made by the New York readers. 

This is an unexpected result, but the same page of the Report 
furnishes a still greater surprise. In this case fifty American 
Braille readers who preferred contractions read it in this form ; 
that is, with 471 letters and contractions, in an average of 89.9 
seconds. At this rate these readers would have required 125.21 
seconds to read the story printed with the full 655 letters. 

The Committee apparently forgot to provide a similar reading 
in contracted New York Point. 

It also appears that the result of the reading of this con- 
tracted story was incorporated with the other Braille readings 
in arriving at the average of elapsed time and errors, whereas 
the Report shows that the first story was not printed with 
contractions in New York Point, an omission unfavorable to 
the New York Point readers. 

Only one contraction test paper was prepared in New York 
Point and British Braille, while 23 contraction lists were made 
in American Braille. 

The contractions and the signs by which they are repre- 
sented are unlike in the three systems, and yet the Committee 
pretends to show the value of contractions in British Braille 
and New York Point by contraction tests made in American 
Braille, which is absurd. 

BILEVEL AND TRILEVEL STRUCTURE. 

A comparison of bilevel with trilevel type will show that a 
certain number of bilevel signs can be made in each of the 
Braille letter spaces that would be exactly like the same letters 
in the New York system. 

In British Braille the bilevel letters are a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, 
1 and j, and form 46.88% of the total usage. In American 



23 

Braille the bilevel letters are a, c, d, e, f, g, //, t, o, r and /, 
and are 64.86% of total usage. In New York Point the cor- 
responding letters made on first and second bases are a, d, e\ 
z, /, 7/1, //, 0, r, s and t, and form 71.16% of all. 

It will at once be seen that this bilevel practice is a great 
advantage in a trilevel system, and that the greater the 
number of these letters that were used in the Braille test, the 
easier they were to read; and the time for reading and the 
number of errors were correspondingly reduced. 

In the two stories the excess of these letters over normal 
usage is 27%, which was a great advantage unfairly given to 
Braille readers. 

A peculiar instance of the disregard of the law of recur- 
rence is seen in the case of the troublesome open letter s. In 
American Braille the normal number of this letter for the first 
story is 45, while the actual number is only 33, a reduction of 
12, or 26%. 

I have always held and again reiterate that the trilevel 
structure is the prime cause of the insufficiency of any system 
employing this form of type, and it is my belief that any tri- 
level system incorporating the features of the New York sys- 
tem exemplified by its regular pitch for points and intervals, 
its series of base forms, the principle of recurrence and its 
code of symbols will still be inferior to the bilevel New York 
system for music, mathematics and literature in general. 

In the analyses the explanatory notes are first given, then 
subject matter followed by the table of constituent elements 
in minute detail, in order to make clear the various factors 
that influence results. 

On page 20 the Committee furnishes an example of its 
method of conducting a competitive test which will repay 
careful study. The test appears under the caption "What 
Dot System Now In Use Is Most Easily Read ?" 

In putting up this question the Committee ignored the 
cumulative experience of many years, and treating it as if it 
were a new one, furnished itself with the most novel means 
for its solution. These included two stories and a list of 



24 

eighty words, which were composed and compiled by the 
Committee for this purpose. 

The stories each have 165 words and 655 letters, thus giving 
to the stories an appearance of equality. 

Scanning these verbal textiles they reveal striking pecul- 
iarities which show that the appearance of similarity and 
equality was delusive. 

The Report says that the first story was first printed in 
American Braille in full spelling and ' ' with contractions after 
some of the schools had been visited." 

In New York Point it was printed both with and without 
capitals. 

The second story was printed in New York Point with and 
without capitals, and with co?itr actions. 

In American Braille it was printed with full spelling only. 

In British Braille it was printed simply with contractions. 

The list of eighty words was printed in New York Point 
and British Braille with contractions, uncapitalized ; American 
Braille without contractions, uncapitalized. 

A fair and just test required that the two stories and the 
eighty word list be printed in each system with full spelling, 
with capitals, without capitals, with contractions, and each in 
its own proper scale as an in1iere?it element due to its structure, 
established by its author and recognized in general practice. 

Moreover, these materials should have been provided before 
beginning the tests; but this was not done, and* the Com- 
mittee admits that the first story was printed in American 
Braille with contractions "after some of the schools had been 
visited." 

No provision was made for the texts with the true New 
York scale 0.080 before the tests were begun, and the papers 
referred to on page 13 as "special sheets" are none other 
than the stories and the list of eighty words which had been 
prepared in the enlarged scale for other purposes. 



25 
THE READING TEST WITH TWO STORIES. 

FIRST STORY. 

Many years ago there lived in England a boy whose name was Dick. 
Dick's father and mother died when he was a baby, and the woman who 
took care of him was very poor. Sometimes he had no breakfast nor 
dinner, and he was often glad to get a crust of bread. In spite of this, 
Dick grew to be a very bright boy. He liked to listen when people were 
talking, and in this way he learned a great deal. He often heard the 
village people speak of London. They had never seen this great city, 
but they believed that all the streets were paved with gold and silver, that 
every one there was very rich, and that singing and music could be heard 
all the day long. One day a wagon drawn by eight black horses, with 
bells on their heads, was driven into the little town. Dick saw the wagon 
and thought that anything so fine must surely be going to London. 

SECOND STORY. 

The mice which haunted my house were not the common ones, but a 
wild, native kind not found in the village. I sent one to a noted naturalist, 
and it interested him very much. When I was building, one of these had 
its nest under the house, and would come out at lunch time and pick up 
the crumbs at my feet. It probably had never seen a man before; and it 
.soon became quite tame, and would run over my shoes and up my clothes. 
It could climb the sides of the room like a squirrel. As I leaned with my 
•elbow on the bench one day, it ran up my clothes, and along my sleeve 
and around the paper which held my dinner and played with it; and when 
I held still a piece of cheese between my thumb and finger, it came and 
nibbled it, sitting in my hand, and afterwards cleaned its face and paws, 
like a fly, and walked away. 

While both of these stories are spoken of as " compositions " 
it should be observed that they are not examples of natural, 
ordinary English, but on the contrary are highly artificial ; 
the first story having been constructed of words specially 
chosen to admit the use of as many American Braille contrac- 
tions as possible, and a second story to admit a large number 
of English Braille contractions and a small number of New 
York contractions. The first story was printed with contrac- 
tions in American Braille only. The second story was printed 
in New York Point and British Braille with contractions. In 
this way New York Point and British Braille could be com- 
pared while neither could be compared with American Braille. 
The artificial nature of Story No. i is favorable to American 
Braille and of the second story to British Braille, while both 
are unfavorable to New York Point. 



26 

The evidence of design in this violation of usual practice is*, 
furnished by the fact that certain letters are in excess while- 
certain others are short of their proper proportion; the pur- 
pose and effect in either case being to give an advantage or 
impose a disadvantage upon the readers of one system or the 
other. This can be shown in the case of every letter, but a 
single illustration will suffice. 

In normal practice there would be in the first story 52, 
letters a, whereas the actual number is 61, an excess of 9 
letters which, with their letter spaces, requires 27 points and 
increases the finger travel of the New York reader 19% over 
normal. In some cases the actual use is less than normal, in 
which case the finger travel is reduced. 

In Braille an open letter is one having one or two points at 
both upper and lower levels but no middle point. This broken 
structure hinders the reader and causes mistakes by the finger 
missing the lower points. As there are no open letters in 
New York Point, this tendency does not occur. 

The aggregate shortage of open letters in the two stories is 
18%, by which amount the Braille readers were enabled to 
make better time and fewer mistakes than if these letters had 
been used in normal ratio. 

As there are no open letters in the New York Point system, 
the New York readers did not derive this advantage, so that 
the net result was adverse to them. 

In each Braille system there are five one sided letters, the 
American Braille set being: a, e, /, s and t. The reader will 
notice that there is a shortage of s and an excess of each of the 
other letters. 

Now why was the two point letter s reduced in both stories 
while the two point letter t and the three point letter / were 
increased in both stories ? 

The letter s is an open broken letter. 

The two points of the t, however, are adjacent, making the 
letter compact and easily recognized. 

Similarly the three points of the letter / are adjacent, mak- 
ing it a unit and easily read. 



27 

Except the letter s, which has been reduced, the letters 
of this group — as compared with the others of the Braille 
family — are the simplest and easiest ; and for this reason they 
have been drawn upon to make good the shortage of the other 
more difficult letters. 

The two point letter i, one of the three shortest and easiest 
letters in New York Point, is short 18.62% in the two 
stories. The longer second and third base letters used to 
replace this shortage increases the finger travel of New York 
readers very greatly. 

In the two stories the three point letter r should occur 69 
times, whereas it appears 55 times, a shortage of 20.28%, 
which is made up by an excess of the one point letters a and e, 
which in American Braille are easily read and do not increase 
the finger travel ; while in New York Point, the shortage is made 
up in part by the one point letter e, and in part by the two point 
letter #, which increases both the number of points and finger 
travel, thus imposing a disadvantage on New York readers. 

In American Braille h is a two level letter having only three 
points and is easy to read. The New York h has five points, 
the maximum number, and is one of the three most difficult 
letters. In the two stories there should be 69 letters 1% but 
there are 80, an excess of n, or 16%. 

This excess adds $■$ points for the Braille readers, while the 
New York readers are given 55 points, a handicap of 22 points, 
or 67%, a very serious disadvantage. 

In New York Point the letters vary in length from 1 to 4 
points, so that a deviation from normal practice will have a 
decided effect upon finger travel. 

In this case these added long letters carrying the highest 
number of points were substituted for shorter letters having a 
less number of points, the inevitable result being an unfair 
increase of finger travel and also of the tactile and mental 
effort required by the New York Point readers. 

In American Braille the letters/, g, x and z have five points 
each and are difficult. In New York Point these letters are 
not specially difficult. In normal text the number of these 



28 

letters would be: j, 6; q, 4; x, 4; z, 2. In fact, however, 
excepting q used in the second story, these three difficult 
Braille letters were omitted from both stories. 

The obvious design and effect of this juggle was to give the 
Braille readers the advantage of a larger number of the simple, 
easy letter h and to increase the finger travel and the mental 
effort of the New York readers by a larger number of one of 
the longest and most difficult letters ; and further, to entirely 
relieve Braille readers from the difficulties presented by the 
complex and difficult letters q, x and z. 

In the following table the normal figures show the number 
of each letter that should have appeared in a story of 165 
words; the figures under actual show the number of each 
letter that did occur: 

FIRST STORY 
Normal Actual 

a 52 61 

b 11 15 

c 19 II 

d 26 37 

e 70 88 

f 26 9 

g 12 21 

h 35 45 

1 5 2 38 

j 4 o 

k 6 10 

1 26 29 

m 18 9 

n 44 49 

o .47 44 

p 12 8 

q 3 ° 

r 35 34 

s 45 33 

t 51 56 

u 22 7 

v 9 II 

W ' 13 22 

X 3 O 

y 12 18 

z 2 o 

655 655 630 630 



SECOND 


STORY 


Normal 


Actual 


50 


53 


11 


14 


18 


20 


25 


41 


68 


83 


25 


10 


11 


5 


34 


35 


50 


45 


4 





6 


5 


25 


29 


18 


25 


42 


57 


45 


35 


1 1 


10 


3 


2 


34 


21 


43 


28 


49 


5° 


20 


23 


8 


6 


13 


17 


3 





12 


16 


2 






29 



SUMMARY OF ANALYSES. 

First Secotid 

Story Story 

Number of words 165 165 

Number of letters 655 630 

Monosyllables 127 138 

Dissyllables 36 21 

Trisyllables 2 2 

Polysyllables o 4 

Three letter words 38 41 

Four letter words 40 32 

Five letter words 32 24 

Six letter words 14 13 

Number of points in letters absent 

from New York Point 18 

Number bilevel letters American 

Braille 444 398 

Normal percentage bilevel letters 

American Braille 64 . 86 64 . 86 

Actual percentage bilevel letters 

American Braille 67 . 80 63 . 18 

1 st base letters, excess over normal. ... 4.70% 6.52% 

2nd base letters, excess over normal. . . 1 .25^ 2 • 75% 

3rd base letters, less than normal 6.20% 10.36% 

Different contractions used in Ameri- 
can Braille 29 

Total usage of contractions in Ameri- 
can Braille 140 

Different contractions used in British 

Braille . . 32 

Total usage of contractions in British 

Braille 117 

Different contractions used in New 

York Point 15 

Total usage of contractions in New 

York Point 62 



30 



LEVEL TESTS IN AMERICAN BRAILLE AND 
NEW YORK POINT. 

The New York Point list 531 has 168 level letters e, a,/] 
t, n, u on two levels. 

List 531, Letters e, a and f. 

fence favor affront false fast affirm feast ease fat 
fag afflict fen fall earn afar fate east feel feet 
fault afraid farm affect fatal affair fact feeble after 
feature fable earnest fail effort fear face eagle fade 
fasten affix eager fare fangs eat faint fan efface 
feed fair fee ear 

The American Braille List 561 has 50 level letters a, on 

one level. 

List 561, Letter a. 

back fad flash tan vast cant sat bland wall pat 
and draw fan want last past man lad all sand 
bad fall lag thrash ham saw flaw mass want rant 
bag small land blast pack shad mat ball brad drag 
tall wad paw shall bat mash band call pan hard 



Total number of letters in New York Point list 234 

Total number of letters in American Braille list. ... 188 

Excess of letters, and more work in New York 
Point ... 46 

or 24.45% 

Number of words in this test 50 

Number of words beginning with a level letter in 

New York Point =50 

or 100% 
Number of words beginning with a level letter in 

American Braille = 2 

or 4% 
Excess in New York Point, and more work. .... 2400% 



Monosyllables in New York Point ".- . 31 

Monosyllables in American Braille. . 50 

Excess in American Braille, and less work 19 

or 61.29% 

Dissyllables in New York Point . 19 

Dissyllables in American Braille o 

Excess in New York Point, and more work 19 

Average number of letters per word in New York 

Point 4-68 

Average number of letters per word in American 

Braille , 3-76 

Excess in New York Point .92 

or 24.5% 

Words of three letters in New York Point 7 

Words of three letters in American Braille 18 

Excess in American Braille, and less work 11 

or 157% 

Words of four letters in New York Point . . . . , 18 

Words of four letters in American Braille 26 

Excess in American Braille 8 

or 44% 

Words of more than four letters in New York Point 25 

Words of more than four letters in American Braille 6 

Excess in New York Point, and more work .... 19 

or 316% 

Percentage of easy one sided letters in the American 

Braille list 54-9 

Normal percentage of these letters 38.8 

Excess over normal 16. 1 

or 41-48% 

Percentage of third base letters in New York Point 

list 28.20 

Normal percentage of these letters 26 . oc 

Excess of third base letters, and more work .... 8.46% 



32 

New York Point List 532, Letters t, n and u. 

tune unbolt undue unfurl tumult unbend unripe 
nuisance unsafe tug untold tun unwind untwist 

nurse unknown unit unbind tunnel unusual utmost 

unite unfit unlock uncle tube unto unfed nun 

ungodly unguarded unused tutor unfasten unique 

utter unaided unless turn unstrung unfaded number 

unfair union untrue uniform nutmeg unable nut 
unseen 

American Braille List 562, Letter e. 

drew blest led bend mesh went wed vest rent pew 

set beg cell pest bell leg thresh shell flesh met 

wend well send pet beck ten mess lest shed end 

tell men lend hem sew flew cent bred pen fell 

ell smell bed fen fed dreg blend bet peck herd 

Total number of letters in New York Point list 285 

Total number of letters in American Braille list .... 188 

Excess in New York Point, and more work 97 

or 510% 

Monosyllables in New York Point 8 

Monosyllables in American Braille 50 

Excess in American Braille, and less work 42 

or 525% 

Dissyllables in New York Point 32 

Dissyllables in American Braille o 

Excess in New York Point, and more work 32 

Trisyllables in New York Point 9 

Trisyllables in American Braille o 

Excess in New York Point, and more work 9 

Words of more than three syllables in New York 
Point 1 

Words of more than three syllables in American 
Braille o 

Excess in New York Point, and more work. . ... 1 



33 

Average number of letters per word in New York 

Point list 5.70 

Average number of letters per word in American 

Braille list 3.76 

Excess in New York Point 1 . 94 

or 51.5% 

Words of more than four letters in New York Point 41 
Words of more than four letters in American Braille 6 

Excess in New York Point, and more work 35 

or 583% 

Percentage of easy one sided letters in American 

Braille 54. 76 

Normal percentage of these letters 38 . 80 

Excess over normal 15 . 96 

or 41-13% 

Percentage of third base letters in New York Point. 31 .57 

Normal percentage of these letters 26 . 00 

Excess of third base letters, and more work. ... 5-57 

or 21.42% 

In the New York Point lists for level test, numbers 531 
and 532, all the words, or 100%, begin with one, tivo or. three 
level letters. In the corresponding American Braille lists, 
numbers 561 and 562, two words only, out of fifty in each test, 
or 4%, begin with one level letter. 

In New York Point lists 531 and 532, six level letters occur 
in each test. In American Braille lists 561 and 562, only one 
level letter occurs in each test, of which fact the reader was 
notified. 

Note also the fact that there is no letter e in American Braille 
list 562, and no letter a in list 561, which relieves the Braille 
reader of the troubles arising from ambiguity of these letters. 

New York Point List 533. 

feet number fence unbolt tumult nuisance undue 
unfurl favor afar fall feast false unite earn nut 
unfit unlock uncle affair fen fact feeble feature 



34 

unbend unusual fat utmost fault farm affect fatal 
fag effort fear turn fasten unstrung unfaded unfair 
face unit affix union eager uniform untrue unable 
fare fangs tutor nutmeg eat unbind fade fan faint 
tube fair tune feed fee fast unknown feel unripe 
efface ear unsafe after unseen unfed ungodly fable 
earnest untold unwind fail nurse untwist fate ease 
tunnel unguarded unaided afraid unique unless eagle 
east affirm afflict affront utter unto tug nun unused 
unfastened tun 

American Braille List 563. 

want land beck saw lest rant lend 
shall ham mass end men small sew pack 
cent blast hem bag tell shed thrash pet 
send well call bad wend sand all met 
shell man thresh past leg beg pest wand 
cell hard fell brad bed wad band blend 
ell mat drag fen paw pan mash bet 
small tall fed dreg shad peck bell led 
went pat rent herd fan fad bend vast 
bland pew and set flash blest mesh 
wall drew 

Total number of letters in New York Point 519 

Total number of letters in American Braille 376 

Excess in New York Point, and more work .... 143 

or 38.03% 

Monosyllables in New York Point 39 

Monosyllables in American Braille 100 

Excess in American Braille, and less work 61 

or 1567, 

Dissyllables in New York Point . 52 

Dissyllables in American Braille o 

Excess in New York Point, and more work .... 52 

Trisyllables in. New York Point . 8 

Trisyllables in American Braille o 

Excess in New York Point, and more work .... 8 



ness 


flew 


ten 


flaw 


lag 


fall 


flesh 


lad 


last 


back 


bat 


bred 


pen 


ball 


tan 


sat 


wed 


draw 


cant 


vest 



35 

Words of more than three syllables in New York 
Point i 

Words of more than three syllables in American 
Braille o 

Excess in New York Point, and more work .... i 

Average number of letters per word in New York 

Point 5 . oo 

Average number of letters per word in American 

Braille 3-76 

Excess in New York Point 1.24 

or 32.97% 

Words of more than four letters in New York Point 66 
Words of more than four letters in American Braille 1 2 

Excess in New York Point 54 

or 450% 

Percentage of one sided letters in American Braille. 54.76 
Normal percentage of these letters 38 . 80 

Excess over normal, and less work 15 .96 

or 41.13% 

Peicentage of third base letters in New York Point 

test 30 . 05 

Normal percentage of these letters 26.00 

Excess over normal, and more work 4. 05 

or 15-57% 

In the New York Point test all the words, or 100%, begin 
with one, two or three "level letters." In American Braille 
only 4^0 of the words begin with only one "level letter." 

On page 1 1 of the Report the following statements are made : 
"These results show that in American Braille with block 
spacing, there was an increase of 17% in time and 165% in 
errors in the reading of the sheet where the reader had 
to determine the level for himself, over that required for 
reading the same thing when he was informed regarding the 
level. 

' ' That in American Braille with the New York Point intervals, 
there was an increase of 12.3% in time and 143% in errors in 
reading the combined sheet. ' 



36 

The important fact that there was an increase of 53.4°/o 
in time and an increase of js% in errors in the reading of the 
tests with New York Point intervals over the reading of the 
tests with block spacing is not mentioned. 

The following are the results given in the Report. Time 
and errors for tests in which the reader had to determine 

the level: 

Time, Errors, 

seconds per cent. 

Tests with block spacing . . ioo. 7 1.7 

Tests with New York Point intervals J 54-5 2 -3 

Increase with New York Point intervals, 53.4% in time and 
35% in errors. 

On page 1 1 of the Report the following statement is made : 
i ' From the above table it would seem that a capital prefix 
causes less hindrance to the reader than a fourth base capital 
letter." 

The important point here is the admission that New York 
Point has true capital letters and is in perfect accord with 
grammar and with the customs of visual typography, while 
American Braille and British Braille have no capital letters, 
and in this respect are out of relation with correct usage. 
Furthermore, the acquisition of twenty-six capital formations 
involves mental and tactile discrimination, while a capital sign 
adds no discipline and imparts no knowledge. 

The development of mental and tactile power resulting 
from the study of New York Point capitals is, in itself, a 
natural and important educational factor. The New York 
Point capitals present no unusual difficulty and are used with 
the same facility as the small letters. 

In preparing these capital tests the Committee knew that in 
reading them the New York readers would be required to 
make twenty-six times as much effort as the Braille readers. 

On page 13 the Committee says: 

' ' There appears to have been little or no question as to the 
wisdom of using contractions in the New York Point system, 
and all the signs of that system were therefore used in making 



37 

one experiment, the result of which shows a much greater 
saving in time through the use of contractions. This is doubt- 
less, in some measure, due to the uniform practice of using 
contractions in New York Point printing and the consequent 
unfamiliarity of the readers with full spelling." 

It is well known that the practice of shorthand, in any form, 
is attended by an enlarged and more exact knowledge of words, 
and hence results in greater familiarity with spelling, instead 
of unfamiliarity, as erroneously stated in the report. 

Again, it is obvious that if contractions are a cause of 
unfamiliarity with correct spelling, the greater number of poor 
spellers from this cause will be found among the readers of 
those systems in which contractions are most freely used. 

It is well known that contractions regularly used in each of 
the Braille systems is greater than in books printed in the New 
York Point system, and hence, according to the premise laid 
down by the Report, greater unfamiliarity with correct spell- 
ing will be found among readers of the Braille systems than 
among readers of New York Point. 

The general proposition that time will be saved by the use 
of contractions is subject to an exception when their use 
involves the rupture of diphthongs, digraphs, syllables and 
words. This practice has always been forbidden in New York 
Point, but has been extensively followed in Braille. 

Before leaving this item, it ought to be pointed out that the 
statement that readers of New York Point are unfamiliar with 
spelling, which was adopted and published by the committee 
and the Association of Workers for the Blind, is an unwar- 
ranted and unkind reflection upon the scholarship of users of 
the New York Point system ; and the impropriety will not be 
palliated by the fact that the subject of spelling was not within 
the purview of the Committee, whose Report makes no reference 
to it other than that above quoted. 

On page 13 the Report says: 

' ' In order to test the relative legibility of types different in 
size or scale, special sheets in New York Point and American 
Braille were prepared." 



38 

New York Point special sheets 5 

American Braille special sheets 4 

New York Point readers of special sheets 41 

American Braille readers of special sheets 19 

Results of reading — page 14: 

Time, Errors, 

per ct. per ct. 

New York Point list 731, large type 100 100 

New York Point list 731, small type .111 90 

American Braille list 761, large type 100 100 

American Braille list 761, small type 125 200 

Increase in time in New York Point 11 

Increase in time in American Braille 25 

Excess of increase in time of American Braille over 

New York Point 127% 

Decrease in errors in Nezv York Poi?it 10% 

Increase in errors in American Braille 100% 

This proves that a smaller scale is adaptable to the hori- 
zontal construction but not to the vertical construction. 

The use of 100% instead of actual figures for time and 
errors in comparing the reading of the enlarged type and the 
normal type was evasive. If the actual reading time for the 
large 0.090 scale was, in fact, less than the reading time for 
the true 0.080 scale, why were the actual figures not used 
instead of the meaningless percentage statement given in the 
report ? 

THE SPACING QUESTION. 

The list with which this test was made contained 100 words; 
77% of these words were monosyllables, 23 c / were dissyllables. 

Easy one sided letters in this test 56% 

Normal percentage 37.1 

Excess over normal 48 °/ 

A page of composition from the Report shows the following 
contents, which afford a striking contrast between natural 
usaee and the artificial structure of the tests: 



"& 



Total number of words 749 

Number of monosyllables 476, or 63% 

Number of dissyllables 134, or 17.8% 

Number of trisyllables 139, or 18.5% 



39 



ARE CHARACTERS OF FEW DOTS EASIER TO 
READ THAN CHARACTERS OF 
MANY DOTS?" 



bcakk 

kbabk 

cimi 

kaeb 

.ackea 



cbaa 

kic 

abi 

eaoc 

keci 



British Braille List 201. 

ebck idfi eie 

ijeh cabc eek 



elac 
ais 



kieo 
kcbci 



ckae 
bebk 



abei 
ilba 
bckbi 
sen 



New York Point List 231, 
ilear ieao svey 



asie oem ilear ieao svey epo 

fceo epyev seoa eira elim eoeis 

feds oepy evs eoae irae meoei 

cfe dseas ieoe meli arie aoe 

peosd efc 

One point and two point letters in British Braille . . . 
One point and two point letters in New York Point . 

Excess in British Braille 

or 

Normal recurrence in British Braille 

Excess over normal 

Normal recurrence in New York Point 

Excess over normal , 

•Other letters in British Braille list 

Other letters in New York Point list 

Excess of other letters in New York Point 

Number of different letters in British Braille list .... 
Number of different letters in New York Point list . 



acce 
akbek 
biek 
iaib 



esde 
aec 
isae 
svey 

90% 
70% 
20 

28% 
Per cent. 

• 3 2 -07 
. 180 

. 40.4 

• 73 
10 

• 30 

■ 200 c /o 
.... 15 
14 



jon tqdu 

qstl gzo 

hsgr touqv 

wxp hljv 

uolt yrg v 



British Braille List 203. 

szvfm lgwp hxry pjuvn 

hfwd qxpv lumd tynow 

dpsj rznl wmxh gfy 

rnoqy gzuf smpw hjq 



xrym 
jfz 
tmds 
xdzfn 



40 
New York Point List 233. 



lsyi 


ofg 


bdmzz 


xhqh 


kxpv 


rigc 


odm 


zxhz 


lsyiq 


hvrj 


fbgc 


kxpa 


zhl 


irbka 


dxhy 


vfcp 


omzs 


qjgx 


yhz 


mcrgd 


klfh 


xsp 


qjzo 


vxbai 


boqk 


gzi 


xzsph 


dchf 


avjx 


rmyl 













Per cent. 

Recurrence value of letters in British Braille list 29.81 

Recurrence value of letters in New York Point list. ... 11.74 
Excess of recurrence value of letters in British 

Braille list 154% 

Number of five point letters in New York Point list. 30 
Number of five point letters in British Braille list ... 12 

Excess of Jive point letters in New York Point list 1 8 

or 150% 

In British Braille list, the letters with the greatest number 
of dots represent only 10% of all the letters. 

In New York Point list, the letters with the greatest number 
of dots represent 25% of all the letters. 

In British Braille list 201, number of different letters 15 

In British Braille list 203, number of different letters 20 

The difference in the number of different letters in the two 
British Braille lists 5 

In New York Point list 231, number of different letters . . . 14 
In New York Point list 233, number of different letters. . . 21 

The difference in the number of different letters in the two 
New York Point lists 7 

This proves that the difference between the two New York 
Point lists is 40% greater than the difference between the two 
British Braille lists. 

American Braille List 263. 

lxrwk hgv fxoj dgwk cjiv yjbj kwrxl 

vgh joxf kwgd vijc jbjy vgw xidkh 

jrwg c J x y. jolk bfjv wgv hkdix jrwgy 

xjc kloj vjfb kojw bnvj lxg jyrm 

xgikp jwvu 



4i 

The following analysis shows the features of this list : 

The letter j occurs twenty times, while the letters q and z 

(both letters with many dots) do not. occur at all. It will be 

remembered that in the corresponding New York Point list 

233, there are 30 five point letters. 

In the American Braille list 262 the three point letter / 

occurs twenty-four times, while the difficult three point open 

letters m, n, p, u occur only once each. 

British Braille List 213. 

lake came bad jack ice fake bail sail laid lad 

aim take calm aid ale said milk kick bale 

cat meek lace am see lack bee beau abide 

be abate ace sea cake abase click bade lamb 

kid blade oak back alas cab kale ease base 

ail case face bake ask make black cask sack 

sake balm coal sail cause sofa blame amid 

blue soak same abuse safe slack sad 

British Braille List 214. 

noon pry gray go boy spot yawn prop copy 

dry pump hurry fry prey try prose tax pomp 

joy spy fuzzy gay pivot frog pond drug spry 

hung dray rug trip lung turn sung plug grip 

well grit tune put troop worn no wild root 

toll buy pony roll told quote gold wool tilt 

tell say wilt room ply yes rope blunt write 

fox draw floor royal wire toy duty 

New York Point List 241. 

so one seed none wise less seen is lie seem 

nine seven fine need nice die me pie fee 

nose feed wine sever cone weed noon foe men 

•deed pen sense pose severe rose son reed sin 

yes scene oven eye rise sinner even done ore 

woe dine ode side sleeve dose lone ice new 

line sew on peer in we reef see does send 



42 
New York Point List 242. 

ox hop ugly ax hog kick hip hang jump fox 
howl lazy hawk gum by him half mug job my 
his bag jug hold buzz dizzy bulb hill bug up 
box hung fuzz go jig wax foxy gaze waxy hazy 
jury how luck bowl lurk quick dazzle happy hack 
bulk hall bump hub grub hum hook black hark 
wizard hug hump hymn hurl hull hungry 

The British Braille list 213 and the New York Point list 241 
were made the basis of comparison, the time which is taken to 
read them and the errors made in reading them is represented 
by 100%. The difference between the two New York Point 
lists is much greater than between the British Braille lists. 

British Braille list 214 has 54 one point letters less than 
British Braille list 213. 

New York Point list 242 has 78 one point letters less than 
New York Point list 241. 

Excess in decrease of one point letters in New York Point, 
44-44%. 

British Braille list 214 has 25 four point letters more than 
British Braille list 213. 

New York Point list 242 has 46 four point letters more than 
New York Point list 241. 

Excess in increase of four point letters in New York Point, 

84%. 

Recurrence value of the letters in British Braille list 214, 
27.41%. 

Recurrence value of the letters in New York Point list 242, 

24.94%. 

Excess of recurrence value of letters in British Braille list, 
and consequent greater familiarity of the reader with these 
letters, 9.9%. 

Increase in number of points in British Braille list 214, 67%. 

Increase in number of points in New York Point list 242, 76%. 

Excess in increase of points in New York Point, 13%. 

In the British Braille list 214, where the letters with many 
dots are tested, the letter g, which has five dots, occurs only 



43 

once ; the five dot letter y occurs 24 times; total five point 
letters in the British Braille list, 25. 

In New York Point list 242, which corresponds to the 
British Braille list 214, there are 46 five point letters; h occurs 
27 times, x 7 times, and £12 times. 

Excess of five point letters in New York Point list, 84%. 

ARE CHARACTERS SIMILAR IN SHAPE MORE 
EASILY READ IF PLACED VERTICALLY 
IN A TRILEVEL LINE, OR HORIZON- 
TALLY IN A BILEVEL LINE? 

In this test, the list 312 in British Braille and the list 342 in 
New York Point were taken as the basis of comparison. 

British Braille list 316 and New York Point list 346 were 
compared with the above lists. • 

The letters in British Braille list 316 represent 27.16% of 
the letters in normal usage. 

The letters in New York Point list 346 represent only 1 1. 67 % 
of the letters in normal usage. 

This shows that the familiarity of the British Braille reader 
with the letters was correspondingly greater than that of the 
New York Point reader with the letters in his list. 

With this advantage for the British Braille reader the time 
taken by him is only 7% less than the time taken by the New 
York Point reader, and the New York Point reader makes 5% 
less errors. 

When a group of dots in the second list had more than one 
value in the New York Point alphabet, the letter of less 
frequent recurrence was used. 

Examples : 

Recurrence value of v, 1.3%. 

Recurrence value of y, 1.9%. 

The letter v was used, its recurrence value being 46% less 
than that of y. 

Recurrence value of /z, 5.4%. 

Recurrence value of z, 0.25%. 



44 

The letter z was introduced; its recurrence value being 
2o6o c Jc less than that of h. 
On page 17 the Report says: 

LEGIBILITY. 

" In estimating the fitness of any system to serve as the uniform type of 
the future, some knowledge of the relative legibility of the letters of its 
alphabet is very desirable. To obtain this a set of test lists was prepared 
for each of the three punctographic alphabets. . . . Each list contained 
160 letters, of which 104, made up of four of each letter of the alphabet, 
formed a sort of background, common to all the lists. The remaining 56 
letters on each sheet were the letter or letters to be tested. ... In Ameri- 
can Braille and New York Point, the lists contained 160 letters, 100 of which 
formed the common background, while the remaining 60 were made up of 
the letter or letters to be tested. It was thought best to test the equivocal 
characters separately, so e in American Braille, and t, n and u in New 
York Point, were not used in the background. The omission of one letter 
from the 26 of the alphabet gave just the 100 for the background, and in 
New York Point, the omission of the other two letters was made up by 
putting in more of e and a. 

The alphabet test was read by 53 English Braille readers, 61 American 
Braille readers and 59 New York Point readers." 

Without going into the subject at length, the following 
points may be noted : 

The principle of recurrence has practically settled the 
question of legibility for any system in which that principle 
is applied. It divides letters into classes and gives to each 
from one to five points according to its class; in New York 
Point it arranges the letters on four base forms ; in American 
Braille it indicates the one sided and the open letters, and 
these are the inherent elements of legibility. 

In British Braille the principle is not applicable, and hence 
the imaginary background, or any other means of determining 
the relative legibility of letters in British Braille, is at variance 
with the principle on which the alphabets in New York Point 
and American Braille have been arranged. 

In British Braille the background comprises 104 letters, 
while in American Braille and New York Point it had only 100 
letters. The omission of the letters t, 11 and u from the New 
York Point background, upon the assumption that they are 
equivocal, was unwarranted, especially as the report states 



45 

that the tests on level letters indicate ' ' that the characters 
which are alike, except for their position in the line, are but 
little, if any, hindrance in reading New York Point." 

British Braille List 403. American Braille List 464. 

Number of test letters in British Braille list is 60, of which 
16, or 26.6%, occur in fixed order. 

Number of test letters in American Braille list is 64, of which 
8, or 12.5%, occur in fixed order. 

British Braille List 404. New York Point List 435. 
American Braille List 465. 

Number of test letters in British Braille 60 

Number of test letters in New York Point 64 

Number of test letters in American Braille 64 

Excess of test letters in New York Point and 

American Braille over British Braille. , 6.66% 

Number of test letters occurring in fixed order in 

British Braille 16 

or 26.6% 

Number of test letters occurring in fixed order in 
New York Point 2 

or 3% 
Number of test letters occurring in fixed order in 

American Braille 6 

or 9% 

By giving less test letters and more letters in pairs to British 
Braille than to New York Point and American Braille, the 
Committee gave the British Braille readers a great advantage 
over the other systems. 

British Braille List 408, New York Point List 440. 

Number of test letters in British Braille list 64 

Number of test letters in New York Point list 70 

Excess of test letters in New York Point list ... 9 % 
Note: e,f, k and x are omitted once each ; b and h are added once. 



4 6 
British Braille List 409. New York Point List 441. 

Number of test letters in British Braille 64 

Number of test letters in New York Point 69 

Excess of test letters in New York Point 7.8% 

Note : d, i and z are omitted once each ; c and j are added once. 

British Braille List 410. American Braille List 472. 

Number of letters tested in British Braille 64 

Number of letters tested in American Braille 76 

Excess of letters tested in American Braille. ... 18.7% 

British Braille List 412. New York Point List 443. 

Number of letters tested in British Braille 60 

Number of letters tested in New York Point 74 

Excess of letters tested in New York Point 23% 

British Braille List 413. American Braille List 474. 

Number of test letters in British Braille list 60 

Number of test letters in American Braille list 64 

Excess of test letters in American Braille list ... 6.6% 
Number of test letters occurring in fixed order in 

British Braille 16 

or 26% 

Number of test letters occurring in fixed order in 
American Braille 8 

or 12.5% 

British Braille List 415. New York Point List 445. 
American Braille List 476. 

Test letters in fixed order in British Braille 18. 7% 

Test letters in fixed order in American Braille None 

Test letters in fixed order in New York Point None 

British Braille List 416. American Braille List 475. 

Number of test letters in British Braille ..... 64 

Number of test letters in American Braille 68 

Excess of test letters in American Braille 6% 

Test letters in fixed order in British Braille 12.5% 

Test letters in fixed order in American Braille None 



47 
British Braille List 419. New York Point List 448. 

Number of test letters in British Braille list 60 

Number of test letters in New York Point list 68 

Excess of test letters in New York Point list ... 13% 

Test letters in fixed order in British Braille 33% 

Test letters in fixed order in New York Point None 

British Braille List 420. New York Point List 447. 

Number of test letters in British Braille list 60 

Number of test letters in New York Point list 64 

Excess of test letters in New York Point list ... 6.6% 

Test letters in fixed order in British Braille 20% 

Test letters in fixed order in New York Point 3 % 

The reading- of these test papers by 173 readers simply 
showed 173 rates of reading for each letter in each system, 
dependent in part upon the arrangement of the letters as 
determined by the principle of recurrence, in part by the fixed 
order of letters, and in still larger part on the capacity of the 
readers. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF ECONOMY IN EMBOSSED 
LITERATURE. 

In the administration of ordinary business affairs, economy 
in every matter that affects cost is everywhere regarded as a 
most important element of efficiency, and a careful manager 
will split a cent on the price of a ton of coal, and put value on 
a minute in the matter of shop cost. There seems, however, 
to be an observable tendency to regard these considerations as 
negligible in regard to embossed literature. 

Indeed, the rule that goods and supplies of a given grade 
and serving the same general purpose shall be purchased at 
the lowest offered price is generally disregarded with respect 
to embossed books. 

Very much might be written on the various phases of the 
subject as presented in the three systems considered in the 
Report, but the final conclusion in which all conditions that 



4 8 

influence the matter are embodied, may be seen in any book 
large enough to include all such considerations ; and the Bible, 
which is perhaps better known than any other book, furnishes 
an actual and convincing illustration. 

For example, this book can be supplied at the following dif- 
ferent rates of cost per copy: $11.00, $22.00 and $34.00. 
The price of $22.00 (New York Point, single side, weight, 
74 pounds) was the result of an effort to reduce the cost, 
which had been $32.00 (Boston Line), and it resulted in a 
reduction of 31.25%. The price of $11.00 per copy (New 
York Point, two side, weight, 39 pounds) is also the result of 
an effort to reduce cost, and so increase the output, without 
increase of capital;, the reduction here is 50%. The price of 
American Braille (single side, weight, no pounds) is $34.00. 

Reason and sound policy require that the manufacture and 
purchase of embossed books shall be regulated by the usual 
rules of business and economy. 

It may be objected that embossed books should be exempted 
from this prudent practice because of their technical character, 
and because trustees, principals and fiscal agents necessarily 
know little about the subject. 

In this respect, however, embossed books do not differ from 
coal, butter, textiles, coffee, tea, flour and other articles of 
everyday use, about which officials, charged with their pur- 
chase, generally have little or no specialized knowledge, but 
who, nevertheless, make purchases of these articles at the 
lowest price offered by responsible parties. 

Correct business practice in this matter would tend greatly 

to settle the question of uniformity, for obviously, only the 

most economical system would eventually hold the field ; and, 

from the facts set out in these pages as gleaned from the 

Report, it is clear that that system will not be British Braille, 

American Braille, London Point, Standard Dot nor any other 

trilevel system. 

WILLIAM B. WAIT. 

New York, June 10, 1915. 



